Heroic showdown: 1978 Superman vs. 1989 Batman
Christopher Reeve's Superman and Michael Keaton's Batman seek glory in this Honest Trailers competition. You decide which superhero movie is the best -- or possibly the campiest.
Remember when superhero movies weren't so dark and gritty? We're looking at you, "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice."
Retro superhero films didn't dwell entirely on violence and vengeance. In fact, in the '70s and '80s, most superheroes saved the world with smiles on their faces, or at least joked once or twice while punching out the bad guys.
To prove that our beloved childhood superhero movies rocked, Honest Trailers is paying tribute to the 1978 "Superman" starring the late great Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel and the 1989 "Batman," played by arguably one of the best versions of the Caped Crusader, Michael Keaton.
Honest Trailers pulls scenes from the movies and adds voice-over commentary, sometimes witty, sometimes insightful, sometimes both. Watch the Honest Trailers for the two films and judge for yourself which one deserves to win as the best trailer tribute. The trailer with the most views wins. If the Caped Crusader gets more views, Honest Trailers will make a video for the movie "Batman Begins." If the Man of Steel wins, it will make a video for "Superman Returns."
This is not an easy decision to make considering both videos from Honest Trailers call out many of the movies' foibles.
In the "Superman" Honest Trailers video, we can't help but laugh out loud at this quote: "Christopher Reeve is pitch perfect as Superman -- a flying Jesus metaphor who was sent to Earth in a Christmas tree ornament."
In the "Batman" Honest Trailers video, we get brilliant bon mots like: "Witness one of the best superhero castings of all time in Michael Keaton. A man so perfect for the role his eyebrows are shaped like the logo. He's a reclusive billionaire dressed like your 10th grade English teacher who's so unstable it actually feels plausible he would pretend to be a bat and beat up poor people."
Good luck deciding which superhero trailer is the most honest. To be fair, we voted for both.
"Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" opened in Australia on Thursday and in the US and UK on Friday.